Question

I’m a beginner with both Python and RegEx, and I would like to know how to make a string that takes symbols and replaces them with spaces. Any help is great.

For example:

how much for the maple syrup? $20.99? That's ricidulous!!!

into:

how much for the maple syrup 20 99 That s ridiculous

Answer 1

One way, using regular expressions:

>>> s = "how much for the maple syrup? $20.99? That's ridiculous!!!"
>>> re.sub(r'[^\w]', ' ', s)
'how much for the maple syrup   20 99  That s ridiculous   '

• \w will match alphanumeric characters and underscores

• [^\w] will match anything that’s not alphanumeric or underscore